1. Field
The present disclosure relates to energy converting devices and more particularly pertains to a new system for generating electrical energy from vehicle movement on a road for capturing and converting energy from air movement caused by moving vehicles along a road.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has become increasingly desirable to generate useful forms of energy in more environmentally-friendly ways, as well as conserving the amount of energy that is expended for everyday tasks. An example is the movement of vehicles along roads. The manner in which the vehicles are powered is changing and evolving, as internal combustion engines are combined with electric motors to form hybrid powerplants, or are replaced outright with electric motors powered by batteries or fuel cells. At the same time, the design of vehicles is changing to reduce the amount of energy that is needed to move the vehicles from point to point, such as through reductions in the weight of the vehicles and through increases in the efficiencies of the powerplants.
However, the numbers of vehicles moving along the roads of the country do not seem to decrease, but tend to increase every year. Thus, despite changes in the fuels used for operating vehicles, and increases in the efficiencies of vehicle operation, the amount of energy transferred to the environment by the movement of these ever-increasing numbers of vehicles does not lessen. Vehicle movement causes the movement of air located in front of, beside, and behind, the moving vehicle, generally in the same direction as the movement of the vehicle. The energy of the moving air is generally dissipated to the environment adjacent to the road and is not conserved, much less captured and converted to a form of energy that can be more easily utilized and even transported from the location of capture and conversion.